Coaches Among Iowa’s Best Paid State Workers

Quick quiz: Workers in which Iowa county get the biggest chunk of the state employee payroll? Hint: It’s more than double the amount paid out in any other county.

If you guessed Polk County, home to Des Moines, the governor, the Capitol and thousands of full- and part-time state workers, you’d be … wrong.

State employees in Johnson County, where you’ll find well-compensated University of Iowa coaches, doctors, professors and administrators, earned nearly $895 million over the 2011 fiscal year, according to state payroll data analyzed by The Des Moines Register.

That’s more than twice the $397 million paid to state employees in runner-up Polk County.

Rounding out the big three is Story County, where Iowa State University’s top earners fall into job categories similar to those at the U of I.

Thirty state employees — 27 men and three women — make more than $500, 0, records show. They include seven head coaches, 17 professors, five U of I vice presidents and a dean.

At the top of the salary heap once again is U of I football coach Kirk Ferentz, who was paid $3.8 million. Four other coaches joined Ferentz among the top six overall salaries: ISU football coach Paul Rhoads at $1.1 million; former U of I men’s basketball coach Todd Lickliter, $883, 333; current men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery, $873, 600; and ISU men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg, $808, 333.

Overall, Iowa paid its full- and part-time workers more than $2.87 billion in wages during fiscal year 2011, which ended in July. That’s the second-highest overall total since 2006, ranking behind only the $2.91 billion paid out in fiscal 2009.

However, the number of state workers has dropped dramatically during that span, from 76, 160 employees in 2006 to 60, 125 last year.

That’s still about 1, 000 more workers than were on the books in fiscal 2010, the leanest of the past six years in terms of staffing.

Quick quiz: Workers in which Iowa county get the biggest chunk of the state employee payroll? Hint: It’s more than double the amount paid out in any other county.

If you guessed Polk County, home to Des Moines, the governor, the Capitol and thousands of full- and part-time state workers, you’d be … wrong.

State employees in Johnson County, where you’ll find well-compensated University of Iowa coaches, doctors, professors and administrators, earned nearly $895 million over the 2011 fiscal year, according to state payroll data analyzed by The Des Moines Register.

That’s more than twice the $397 million paid to state employees in runner-up Polk County.

Rounding out the big three is Story County, where Iowa State University’s top earners fall into job categories similar to those at the U of I.

Thirty state employees — 27 men and three women — make more than $500, 0, records show. They include seven head coaches, 17 professors, five U of I vice presidents and a dean.

At the top of the salary heap once again is U of I football coach Kirk Ferentz, who was paid $3.8 million. Four other coaches joined Ferentz among the top six overall salaries: ISU football coach Paul Rhoads at $1.1 million; former U of I men’s basketball coach Todd Lickliter, $883, 333; current men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery, $873, 600; and ISU men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg, $808, 333.

Overall, Iowa paid its full- and part-time workers more than $2.87 billion in wages during fiscal year 2011, which ended in July. That’s the second-highest overall total since 2006, ranking behind only the $2.91 billion paid out in fiscal 2009.

However, the number of state workers has dropped dramatically during that span, from 76, 160 employees in 2006 to 60, 125 last year.

That’s still about 1, 000 more workers than were on the books in fiscal 2010, the leanest of the past six years in terms of staffing.